Bacon: Scandals show MSU football’s success may have weakened “filter on character”

Stateside's conversation with Michigan Radio sports commentator John U. Bacon.

Problems keep piling up for Michigan State University.

The sports doctor Larry Nassar, sitting in jail on federal and state criminal sexual assault charges, accused of assaulting the gymnasts who turned to him for care. The woman's gymnastics coach who retired after it became known she vigorously supported Nassar, even in the face of athletes' complaints.

And, two separate allegations of sexual assault against Spartan football players since January.

Michigan Radio sports commentator John U. Bacon joined Stateside to break down the latest news and what has led to these scandals in East Lansing.

Listen to the full interview above to hear why Bacon feels the football team's success could be partially to blame for what has happened, and why MSU athletic director Mark Hollis deserves credit for the way he responded to the situation.

In the early morning hours of January 16, three football players allegedly assaulted a young woman at a party in an on-campus apartment.

That’s according to Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon, who announced she’s authorizing charges against the three men on Monday.

Their names won’t be released by the prosecutor’s office until they’re arraigned, a spokesman said. Michigan Radio reached out to the men’s attorneys, but they either declined to comment or didn’t immediately respond.

“How you doing, kiddo?” Judge Donald Allen asked a 17-year-old witness who’d just wrapped up a long, disturbing story of sexual assault that she says has damaged both her ability to trust and her desire to be touched. “That wasn’t fun,” she admitted, her eyes red and wet for the first time since she took the stand.

Last summer Nassar also pled guilty to federal charges for possessing thousands of images of child pornography. More than 120 women and girls tell MSU police that Nassar sexually abused them under the guise of treatment.

Nassar was fired from MSU in September 2016. The university has hired attorneys to investigate who knew what about the allegations against Nassar.

Today, seven women and girls are expected to testify against a doctor they say sexually abused them.

They are some of more than 100 women and girls who’ve alleged Dr. Larry Nassar abused them while they were in gymnastic programs at Michigan State University (MSU) or USA Gymnastics (USAG). Nassar was the team physician for both.

(To see how the allegations against Dr. Larry Nassar unfolded, click here.)